Jonathan Balcombe (Author of What a Fish Knows)

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Jonathan Balcombe

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The United Kingdom

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Jonathan Balcombe was born in England, raised in New Zealand and Canada, and has lived in the United States since 1987. He has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology (the study of animal behavior) from the University of Tennessee, where he studied communication in bats. He has published over 45 scientific papers on animal behavior and animal protection.

He is the author of four books. Jonathon is currently at work on a new book about the inner lives of fishes, and a novel titled After Meat.

Formerly Senior Research Scientist with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Jonathan is currently the Department Chair for Animal Studies with the Humane Society University.

Based near Washington, DC, in his spare time Jonathan en ...more

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Average rating: 4.18 · 3,964 ratings · 598 reviews · 12 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins 4.21 avg rating — 2,687 ratings — published 2016 — 39 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects 4.17 avg rating — 376 ratings — published 2021 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inside Animal Hearts and Minds: Bears That Count, Goats That Surf, and Other True Stories of Animal Intelligence and Emotion by Belinda Recio (欧宝娱乐 Author), Jonathan Balcombe (Foreword) 4.22 avg rating — 343 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals by Jonathan Balcombe, J.M. Coetzee (Foreword) 4.03 avg rating — 303 ratings — published 2010 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good 3.96 avg rating — 225 ratings — published 2006 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Exultant Ark: a Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure 4.21 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2011 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jake and Ava: A Boy and a Fish by Jonathan Balcombe, Rebecca Evans (欧宝娱乐 Author) (Illustrator) 4.36 avg rating — 14 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, & Recommendations 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2000	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2007	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fish Sense 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Jonathan Balcombe (?)

“The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. 鈥擡den Phillpotts Just”
― Jonathan Balcombe, What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins

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“Science likes to measure things, to test hypotheses and collect data. Until quite recently science wasn鈥檛 testing hypotheses about animal feelings. From the time Charles Darwin wrote his last book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) to about the time Neil Armstrong left footprints on the moon nearly a century later (1969), prevailing scientific dogma denied animals their hearts and minds. A nonhuman animal was viewed as merely a responder to external stimuli. The idea that a walrus made decisions, or that a parakeet felt emotions, was considered unscientific.”
― Jonathan Balcombe, Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals

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“Animals are as intelligent as they need to be. If a particular mental ability鈥攕uch as learning to recognize other individuals, or to identify predators鈥攊s important to survival and reproduction, then it will be favored evolutionarily. But nature doesn鈥檛 waste energy building brains just because it can. All else being equal, an organism with a smaller brain should have a survival advantage over one with a larger brain, because the 鈥渂rainier鈥� one must consume more energy to sustain its gray matter.”
― Jonathan Balcombe, Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals

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